Soaring Cliffs
by Insanity Lives Here
Summary: Yeah, it started off really rough. But it didn't stay that way forever.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Blame Ant, she made me ship this way too hard. Anyway, I'll be taking a few liberties with the characters personalities because neither of these characters got as much development as I'd have liked. Enjoy!**

"This is a very dangerous mission. As always, you have the right to decline. It requires that you go to Soaring Cliffs, one of the four sanctuaries open to visitors, and talk to two dragons who we believe to have valuable information on the Society of the Evening Star. These dragons are still adolescent, but very dangerous. What you have to do is get through the sanctuary to the lair where the dragons reside and question them. We have picked you two not only because you are trusted operatives, but you are also both dragon tamers." The Captain of the Knights of the Dawn explained.

"I would raise an objection to that. I'm not a dragon tamer." Mara and Trask were being briefed on a mission.

"Your objection has been noted and taken into consideration. Your primary focus will be getting Trask in and out of the sanctuary without getting killed." Mara nodded.

"If there are no further questions, your mission will begin in three days. I will give you this time to introduce yourselves. Return to the meeting when you are done." The Captain gathered his papers and left the room.

Trask stood up and offered a hand to Mara. "Trask Donovan. Nice to meet you."

Mara shook. "Mara Tabares." Her voice was cold, unforgiving.

"You don't trust me."

"No, I do not. Forgive me for that."

"I understand, but we have to learn to get along."

Mara was silent.

"I can tell we are going to have so much fun these next few weeks." The sarcasm in Trask's voice was blatant.

"It should be great." Mara threw over her shoulder as she walked out of the room.

This was going to be a long three days.

* * *

Mara arrived at the airport not more than two minutes before she had to. She announced her presence by tapping Trask on the shoulder. The bald man jumped half a foot in the air and whipped around.

"Mara! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"That was rather the intention, Donovan." She felt a twisted pleasure at that. Trask was, in her opinion, far too cocky and willing to get into situations he didn't belong in.

Trask sighed. "Can we drop the hostility? Please? I know you trust me about as far as you can throw me-"

"Less." Mara cut in.

"-But we have to be able to get along. You heard the Captain, this relies on trust."

"Well I apologize for not being able to trust people I don't know!" Mara practically shouted.

"Calm down, people are staring." Indeed, heads had turned at her outburst. "You don't have to trust me. I can't make you. But if you can't be friendly, don't talk."

Mara didn't say another word until the plane landed seven hours later.

* * *

When the plane did reach ground, after five hours of icy looks and the cold shoulder on the plane, and two waiting for a transfer plane, Mara finally spoke. "How far is it to the sanctuary?"

"Three miles, directly that way." Trask pointed where he hoped the east was. Even though he had no idea if he was right, he didn't want to show any form of hesitation or weakness in front of Mara.

"Any distracter spells on the entrance?"

"Unless something's been added since last time we were here, no."

As it turned out, Trask had pointed in the right direction, if a few degrees off. The three mile walk took over forty five minutes, and probably would have gone faster if there hadn't been gear and food to carry. Mara kept looking back impatiently, and Trask got the feeling she felt he was going slow.

When they finally neared the gate, they paused to get out weapons. From the mission briefing they had both received, Trask knew that inside the gate there was nothing to prevent the dragons from getting to them. The caretaker had been informed of their presence, and had presumably added their names to the register. However, said caretaker was an inhospitable man who had refused to shelter them, even for a night. So weapons it was. Trask took a sword; Mara chose a spear and a dagger.

"Remember-" Trask began, only to be cut off once again.

"Do not engage dragons under any circumstances, the first goal is to talk, then run or hide. If one of us is injured, we pull the mission. Do not engage unless you must." Mara rattled off.

Trask found himself nonplussed. "Right."

"Can we go now?"

"Eager for an early death?" Trask had made a promise to himself he would be polite, but this was one frustrating woman.

"No, unlike you."

"I don't want to die!" He protested.

"Right." Mara snorted derisively, then turned away and made the first steps into the dragon sanctuary.

* * *

"We are not going to take that route. We will die on those rocks."

Mara threw up her hands. "Didn't you hear the Captain? My job is to keep you alive. Alive, Trask, not dead. Which is what you will be if you go that way. I told you, there's a chimera nest."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Can't you see the birds? They're everywhere, except that little hill. Chimeras eat birds. And they sure as hell eat humans too."

"Fine, we'll go your way. If we get hurt, I will blame it all on you."

"Fair. We won't get hurt, and then you'll look like an idiot."

As they began to walk toward a hill of sharp rocks, Trask realized it was the first time Mara had called him something other than Donovan.

* * *

The first night, Trask and Mara found a small cave on the other side of the rock hill. It had turned out that Mara was right. The rocks were nowhere near as sharp or dangerous as Trask had predicted. And later that day, they had seen a chimera flying overhead. He realized he should probably trust her judgment more, but it was hard when she acted like she wanted to kill him most of the time.

But he had to make an effort. "You were right. We would have died if you followed my lead."

Mara smiled, and Trask thought a bit of the acidity had gone out of her face. "See, who looks stupid now?" It was the kind of frustrating remarks he had put up with all day, but without much of the bite they had carried before. Was it possible she was starting to trust him a bit?

"We should have dinner." They had only taken one quick break to eat all day, and Trask realized he was starving.

Mara took her pack and dished out dried fruit, nuts, and some slightly stale bread. As they ate, Trask noticed his companion staring at the stars.

Later, as they were drinking hot chocolate, she finally spoke, "They're so different here. None of them look the same as back home." The expression on her face was so wistful and sad Trask almost wanted to comfort her.

"You miss it, don't you?"

"Of course I miss it. It was my home for so long. All my life, I never went more than thirty miles from Lost Mesa. And now it is gone, along with my mom and all my friends." She looked like she was about to cry.

Trask scooted over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened, but didn't push him away. "I'm sorry. I lost my parents when I was ten. I know how that feels."

Mara gave a watery laugh. "I must sound like such a crybaby then."

"No. It's hard to lose a parent, however old you are. Besides, I hardly remember mine. You will have to live with them in your memory, which can be easier, or a lot more painful."

"I could have saved her." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "She was right there. I could have grabbed her hand."

"And you both might have died. It's no good to wonder what-ifs. They can torture you for the rest of your life."

"You're right." She admitted.

"You said I was right." Trask teased lightly.

"Don't get used to it, Donovan."

They stayed there a bit longer, with Trask's arm around her shoulders, and Mara's head resting on his. Finally, they agreed that it was time for bed. They set up the sleeping bags close to each other for protection. It took both of them a long time to fall asleep.

* * *

Trask awoke the next morning to find that sometime during the night he and Mara had ended up wrapped around each other. He mentally grimaced, thinking about Mara's reaction. He should probably wake her up.

"Guard." Mara tried to sit up, only to find Trask's arm around her and her face turned bright red. "Holy shit. Trask, get off me." Trask hastily untangled himself from her. "How did that happen?"

"No idea." Trask responded truthfully.

"Right. Of course, you have no idea. But we forgot to post a guard."

Trask realized she was right. "We are very lucky that nothing happened upon us then. We need to be more careful from now on."

"We? I had nothing to do with that. You are supposed to be the leader." So it looked like today would be back to total hostility, as though the events of last night had never happened. Trask just sighed and started packing up his stuff.

* * *

Over the next four days, they only encountered trouble once, but it was bad trouble.

_A dragon somehow managed to sneak up on them, landing in front of them with a loud boom._

_"We do not often see humans here." The dragon hummed. It sounded female._

_"Oh mighty one, we mean no harm to you, nor any other creature of this sanctuary." Trask called. "We only need to observe, then we shall be on our way."_

_"Impressive. Not many humans can speak in my presence. What about you, girl, can you speak?"_

_Mara was surprised to find, while she was terrified, her moth still worked, as did her limbs. "I can speak your grace." It took all of her willpower to force those words past her lips._

_"I find this to be a most interesting diversion. But not interesting enough to truly satisfy me. Perhaps I should eat you."_

_Trask held up his hands. "There is no need for that. We intend no harm."_

_The dragon hummed melodically. It took Mara a moment to realize she was laughing. "Perhaps you are right. Stay out of my way, little mice. Most dragons are not as willing as I." The dragon took flight, disappearing quickly into the distance._

_Trask glanced at Mara. "I'm impressed. Not many people can remain in control of themselves during something like that. Maybe you are a dragon tamer."_

_"No, I'm not." Mara shook her head. "Let's go."_

Finally, they reached the lair of the dragons they were supposed to be interviewing. The interview went well, right up until the end, when Trask inadvertently said something that made both dragons mad. They fled the cavern, and the dragons did not pursue them out of the cave.

Despite that, they ran for a good mile or so. Trask was amazed at how fast Mara could run. He really had been slowing her down. When they stopped, he was panting, but she wasn't even breathing hard.

"Damn it, Trask. Can't you keep your mouth closed and just follow the instructions for once? That almost got us killed!"

Trask had had enough of her constant verbal abuse. He needed a way to shut her up, fast. So he kissed her. It wasn't the proper thing to do, and certainly not the smart thing, but he did it anyway.

Mara responded more forcefully than he was expecting. It was a bit awkward, since they were both a bit out of practice at kissing, but it was still nice. Trask noticed that Mara's lips tasted vaguely like strawberries and mint. His hands tangled in her long black hair and her arms were around his neck. He hadn't realized that he wanted to kiss her up until the moment he did. And he was glad he did. Even if she never talked to him again, it was nice to kiss her once. They somehow ended up pressed against a tree.

After what felt like forever but probably wasn't that long at all, Mara broke it off by shoving Trask in the chest. Hard. "What the hell was that? You can't just kiss me out of nowhere."

"You responded! What's your problem?"

"What's _my_ problem? What's yours?"

"You've been a total bitch since we got here. All you do is talk mean to me and put me down." Trask shouted.

"And it never occurred to you that there was a reason for that?" Mara shouted back.

"Do you hate me? Because that seems like a very likely reason."

"No, I don't hate you. You seem like a good guy."

"Then why in hells name are you being such a jerk?"

"Because last time I was nice to someone they died, and it was all my fault!" Mara grabbed the things she had dropped and started off in the general direction of the gates.

Trask threw down his hands in exasperation, gathering his stuff back up. Anyone who said they understood women was clearly lying.

**A/N As, I said, liberties. Please review and tell me if I should continue this.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ever since Soaring Cliffs, Mara had done a diligent and complete job of avoiding Trask completely. They never saw each other or had to interact for any reason. At first, Trask believed it to be a coincidence. Their paths just had never crossed. But once they reached Wyrmroost, he wasn't so sure.

All through the dragon sanctuary, Mara stayed as far away from Trask as she could. Never speaking to him unless she had to, walking at a different pace than him, and always, always making sure she was never alone with him. When the shift changed, there was never an opportunity where Mara and Trask would be the only ones awake. Trask believed this to be a coincidence too, but as time went on, he grew less and less sure. Was it possible Mara was as smart as she was beautiful and deadly? It would have required planning of a degree Trask could not comprehend. Planning and schemes he left to the others; he was there for protection, advice, and talking to dragons should the need arise.

The best chance he had was right after the peryton attack. Mara went to find and revive the incapacitated Tanu. He darted off after her, catching her no more than twenty feet from the gargantuan Samoan.

"What do you want?" Trask felt like the temperature had dropped ten degrees at the ice in her voice.

"I don't want anything. I just want to know why you've been avoiding me."

"I haven't been avoiding you." Mara started walking again.

Trask grabbed her arm. "Yes, you have."

He had anticipated being able to hold her easily, but the Native American woman proved stronger than expected, and wrenched her arm away. "So what if I have?"

Trask had thought this through considerably less well than anticipated. "Why?"

"Because," Mara looked away angrily, "whatever the hell happened at Soaring Cliffs was nice, but nothing can ever come of it. You know that as well as I do. And right now, the most important thing is getting the key and getting out of here before someone gets killed. I can't keep my thoughts straight around you. So I stay away. You'd do the same if you were me."

* * *

Next came the ambush. No member of their party had been expecting the dragons to appear like they did. The fight and flight was short-lived and unremarkable in the outcome. Trask had no choice but to drink the potion and pray for the best. He saw the Mara, Kendra, Gavin, and Dougan take off for Sidestep Cleft. Then they rounded a corner and disappeared. Less than a minute later, a large black dragon rose up to give chase to a yellow dragon. It was all Trask could do to try to keep his particles together and drift to a safe place.

Ten or so minutes later, he felt the tingling sensation indicating that the potion was wearing off.

As quick as possible, he landed on the nearest patch of ground. Sadly, there was a cliff between him and where the others had run, so he had no way of knowing if they were safe.

So he started walking. There wasn't a hell of a lot else he could do. The rain was coming down hard, soaking him to the bone. But he kept walking, determined to get somewhere, even if it was just a dead end.

And that was when he saw it.

At first, it looked like a small animal or rock laying on the ground. He approached cautiously. That was when he realized it wasn't an animal or plant. It was a human being, lying crumpled at the bottom of a cliff. And he sure as hell didn't believe there was a living human in Wyrmroost that wasn't one of his. The possibility it was a trap passed through his mind, of course, but it wasn't terribly concerning to him.

He skidded up to the body. "Goddammit Mara! What the hell happened?"

"Hi Trask." She panted. Sorry you weren't there to see it. It was a pretty spectacular sight."

"What was?"

"Gavin. He's a dragon."

"You mean dragon brother?" Trask asked.

"No. He transformed into a fucking dragon. Knocked me off the cliff pretty good."

"Are you okay?"

"I fell off a fucking cliff. What do you fucking think?" She winced, clearly in pain. "I think some of my ribs are broken. Plus I have scrapes and cuts everywhere. But that's not important. What happened to everyone else?"

"I don't know. I used the gaseous potion and ended up down here. I couldn't follow the group."

"Goddamn... We need to find them."

"Yes, we do. But you aren't going anywhere with those injuries."

"No, I'll be fine. Just give me a hand up."

"Mara," Trask protested, "that's crazy." But he reached out his hand to pull her up.

Mara pulled herself halfway to her feet before falling back down. "Fuck."

"It's okay, I'll carry you."

"Not on your life. You are not carrying me anywhere. I just need to get up, and then I'll be good."

Between them, they managed to get Mara up on her feet, even though it was obvious she was in a lot of pain. Trask got an arm under hers and her arm was around his neck. It was slow going, and awkward by circumstance, but finally they made it to the point where they could get up to higher ground and make their way to Sidestep Cleft. When they arrived, however, they found a less-than-good sight awaiting them. Kendra was standing with a shimmery dragon over the burnt remains of the knapsack.

"Kendra!" Trask exclaimed. "What happened here?"

"Gavin... he turned into Navarog... and he ate Dougan and burned the knapsack and Warren is still inside and..." Kendra broke down in tears. The dragon wrapped a claw around her comfortingly.

"Get off Kendra, dragon." Trask commanded, tempted to draw his sword but resisting the urge.

"No, please! This is Raxtus. He's a good dragon." Kendra said.

"What the hell is a good dragon? So far, dragons have done us nothing but harm." Mara growled.

"Please!" Kendra repeated. "He's kind of an oddity. But he's smart, and he saved my life. Plus, he ate Navarog."

"That runt ate Navarog?" Mara repeated skeptically.

"Yes, I did." Raxtus's voice was proud.

"Mara, be nice." Trask whispered in her ear.

"There will be enough goddamn time to be nice when this is all over and done with. For now, I am going to remain suspicious of any dragon claiming to help humans." Mara didn't bother with whispering. "Plus, I have at least one broken rib and blood flooding from my body, so I would kindly ask you to shut the fuck up."

Kendra looked vaguely surprised at her outburst. "You'll just have to believe me until we get out of this mess. We need to find Seth and Tanu before something happens to one of them."

"Seth's with Thronis. He should be safe, at least for the moment. But Tanu is still in the woods somewhere. We should make it a priority to find him." Trask said, assuming control.

"If you want, I can take your injured friend somewhere safe." Raxtus offered, pointing at Mara.

"For the last fucking time, I'm fine and I don't need your help." Trask had not known Mara had such a foul mouth. Maybe it was only because she was in pain.

"I could try to heal you?" Raxtus offered half-heartedly.

"I think you better not." Kendra intervened before Mara could reply. "After what happened with Warren..."

"See? I told you I'm a failure." Raxtus hung his head.

"We need some way of contacting Thronis to get him to return Seth to us." Trask said firmly.

"Thronis has a seeing stone. He'll know where we are and Seth can talk to him. Tanu is a priority." Mara said, her words slightly twisted by pain.

"Agreed. Kendra, Raxtus and I will go to where Kendra last saw him and try to find him. Mara will stay here to look for Seth," Mara opened her mouth to protest, but Trask cut her off, "and try her hardest not to get any more injured than she already is."

Mara glared, but complied.


End file.
